I am in need of an adapter board made for a project of mine. Its sole purpose is to connect an arduino with a shield. In the case of what I'm working on, I have VERY strict space requirements and cannot stack the shield on top of the arduino. There are ways around this, like getting a module instead of a shield, but I want to dive into making a simple PCB on my own as a learning experience.

I can make an adapter PCB that allows me to place the arduino and shield side-by-side, and connect the required pins with Vias and solder them directly to the adapter board. However, I'm having a lot of trouble getting started. I won't need any components on the board, no resistors, no relays, etc. Just a plain PCB with connected Vias. I'm hoping to create a gerber file that will allow me to send this off to have ~5 of these made (again, part of the learning experience).

I've tried Eagle, but from what I can tell, it will only allow you to create a board from a Schematic. Since I have no components, its a little hard to start with a schematic. Is there something else I can use to create a simple PCB that outputs Gerber files? Maybe some learning/reading material for that website/program that is recommended?

Connect with VIAs? I think you MAY have your terminology wrong, A VIA is a very small plated hole connecting one side of a PCB the other. You need pads for connecting a PCB to a PCB.

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You might consider making a cutout in your PCB board design, slightly smaller than the footprint of a small Arduino board (like the NANO), with pads that match up all around the edge of your cutout. It should then be pretty easy to line up the Arduino board with the pads, either on the top layer or solder side, and carefully solder the two together from the edge. That will completely avoid the extra space taken up by even the shallowest header connector. And, the PCB cutout likely won't add anything (or at most pennies) to the cost of the board fabrication. As I've been pleasantly surprised at the VERY reasonable prices from some of the China based PCB fabrication (PCBWAY.COm for example), and these fab houses can add such cutouts very easilly and cheaply.

You are kind of thinking of component wrong. Find a component that give you a hole pattern on the PCB that you want and add it to you Schematic, just because you are not going to mount on the board does not mean that you can not use it to lay out the PCB for what you need in holes spacing. You can then wire any of those component on the schematic for any traces you want.You can make components for your needs like one for a rework area.

You are kind of thinking of component wrong. Find a component that give you a hole pattern on the PCB that you want and add it to you Schematic, just because you are not going to mount on the board does not mean that you can not use it to lay out the PCB for what you need in holes spacing. You can then wire any of those component on the schematic for any traces you want.You can make components for your needs like one for a rework area.